Los Angeles Chargers

CARSON — They knelt together, stood arm in arm, and raised clenched fists as the anthem played. Their statement of solidarity resounded across the league, from Los Angeles to Denver, from Cleveland to Indianapolis, from Houston to Atlanta, and across the Atlantic, where the most politically divisive day in NFL history began with the league’s only Muslim owner, Shahid Khan, standing together with Jaguars players and coaches, of all races and beliefs.

CARSON >> Even after relocation and a coaching change, this remains true: The Chargers will only go as far as Philip Rivers takes them. On Sunday, that reality did not look reassuring. In their second game at StubHub Center, the Chargers fell to Kansas City, 24-10 — dropping to 0-3 for the first time since 2003.

CARSON >> Melvin Gordon had his best game of the year on Sunday. Now, the Chargers need him healthy enough for an encore. The third-year tailback was one of the bright spots in a 24-10 loss to Kansas City, turning 17 carries into 79 yards and a touchdown.

CARSON >> On the north sideline, Kansas City’s’ Marcus Peters looked at the ground and held up a fist, with teammate Roy Miller holding up Peters’ arm. On the south sideline, five Chargers sat on a metal bench when the anthem was played, and Casey Hayward also raised a fist.

COWBOYS AT CARDINALS Kickoff: 5:30 p.m., ESPN Outlook: Dallas loafed its way through last week’s loss against Denver, like Ezekiel Elliott chasing down an interception. That won’t be the case this week against an Arizona offense that just isn’t the same without David Johnson.

If this is indeed Alex Smith’s final season in Kansas City, he’s certainly making it count. The veteran quarterback has looked like a different player in his 12th professional campaign, subverting his game-manager reputation with 9.

COSTA MESA — Younghoe Koo hasn’t won the Chargers any games yet, but at least for now, he will keep his job. A day after leaving the door slightly ajar for a kicking competition, head coach Anthony Lynn reaffirmed his confidence in the undrafted rookie — a former Lou Groza Award finalist who is now 1 of 4 on NFL field-goal attempts.

CARSON >> Close, but not enough. On Sunday, the Chargers played their first regular-season NFL game at StubHub Center. They trailed the Dolphins for less than 10 minutes. They averaged nearly 2 more yards per play.

CARSON >> Antonio Gates had 111 touchdown catches as a San Diego Charger. He now has one as a Los Angeles Charger. And for all of the change and the newness of the Chargers’ future here, there had to be some melancholy involved when Gates hauled in a pass from Philip Rivers with 8:18 to play in the third quarter Sunday afternoon at StubHub Center, to break Tony Gonzalez’ record for career touchdown catches by a tight end.

CARSON >> There was no defender breaking through the line this time. No errant hold, no botched snap. Younghoe Koo missed the field goal on Sunday, and this one was entirely on him. With nine seconds left on the game clock at StubHub Center, the Chargers’ undrafted rookie had a chance to win the game.

CARSON >> The day ended with one of their defensive tackles attempting to play lead blocker for their kicker. Strange? This came only after their historic return to L.A. was soiled by a missed field goal punctuated by the booming sound of their triumphant sideline cannon, a celebration normally reserved for games the Chargers actually, you know, win.

The Chargers, in another fourth quarter meltdown, fumbled the team’s first season opener in Los Angeles in 57 years. But their fans — cheering in the stands or tailgating in the parking lot — gave a command performance at Carson’s StubHub Center on Sunday.

When the Rams kick off against Washington at the Coliseum this afternoon, somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 fans will be there to watch in a stadium that seats more than 90,000. At some point, someone will innocently take a crowd shot picture, as is the norm across the sports world these days.

COSTA MESA >> The lifeline came two days before Thanksgiving. After weeks of fruitless workouts, Chris McCain was flying back to California. The past year had been a rollercoaster for the 25-year-old edge rusher.

Has anyone really explained why, having to babysit two NFL teams around here at this point in our history, all of a sudden it means there has to be a “Fight for L.A.?” The transplanted San Diego Chargers and nomadic St.

COSTA MESA >> Retire for three months, and some people lose all respect for you. That’s essentially the treatment Dolphins quarterback Jay Cutler got from Melvin Ingram, whom he will face this Sunday at StubHub Center.

COSTA MESA >> Matt Slauson jumped early. The offensive lineman is a seasoned veteran, one who entered this month having made 104 career appearances, including three in the playoffs. He had done so wearing three different uniforms, in more than two dozen NFL stadiums.

The Chargers and the Dolphins live on opposite coasts. This week, however, they are separated by just 98 miles. The latter team was displaced by Hurricane Irma, the storm that made landfall in Florida over the weekend after ravaging the Caribbean.

At the conclusion of an NFL debut week defined by stifling defense and overmatched offenses, Philip Rivers cocked his right arm and fired a deep pass into the Denver night sky. Seven minutes remained in the AFC West’s Monday night tete-a-tete, and the Chargers, fresh off forcing their second turnover of the fourth quarter, still trailed by two scores as Rivers’ throw soared toward a streaking Travis Benjamin.

DENVER >> Everything began rolling downhill after the drop. Five minutes into the Los Angeles Chargers’ first NFL season, Casey Hayward was poised to score. The 5-foot-11 cornerback had gotten his hands on the ball, jumping a pass intended for Broncos running back C.

DENVER >> The Chargers are going to finish last in their division. The Chargers will be competitive, but miss the playoffs. The Chargers are going to the Super Bowl! That’s a quick summary of some prominent preseason predictions, which have Los Angeles’ newest football team ping-ponging up and down the league standings.

My oh my, how the NFL landscape has seismically shifted in Los Angeles over the last 20 months. The Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers? Yup, that really happened. And Year One of their co-existence begins Sunday.

COSTA MESA >> Sean Culkin is hoping for the best. The Chargers’ undrafted rookie tight end grew up in Indian Rocks Beach, Fla. — a 1 1/2-square mile plot of land on a barrier island just outside Tampa.

QUARTERBACK Even at 35 years old, Philip Rivers remains one of the best in the business. How good, exactly? Earlier this week, Broncos linebacker Von Miller called him a future Hall of Famer, and one of the top three quarterbacks in the league.

In the spirit of a professional play-by-play broadcaster, let’s just call it what it is: Beth Mowins is the right person at the right time at the right network to write some history. A ready-for-prime-time player.

Anthony Lynn wasn’t backing down. Neither was Mike Shanahan. It didn’t matter that the former was a special teams assistant, near the bottom of the Broncos’ staff hierarchy. It also didn’t matter that the latter was at the top of his profession — a Super Bowl-winning head coach who, at the time, who looked bound for a spot in Canton.

Mike McCoy was the Broncos’ offensive coordinator. Then he became the Chargers’ head coach. And now? The Broncos’ offensive coordinator. Again. Not much of a move, geographically, but the changes have taken their toll.

COSTA MESA >> Twenty-eight NFL teams will play before the Chargers officially open the 2017 season. Philip Rivers will try to watch as many of them as he can. The veteran quarterback is heading into his 12th season opener as a starter, and this time, he’ll have to wait.

The Fight for L.A. rages on, as the Rams and Chargers battle to win the collective hearts and souls and wallets of the 20 million or so people residing in Los Angeles and vicinity. But it’s just a local tangle.

WEST ARIZONA CARDINALS 2016 record: 7-8-1 Notable offseason addition: Haason Reddick, OLB. Reddick has been a pleasant surprise early on in Arizona. If he keeps developing as a pass-rusher, he could be an instant star.

AFC WEST DENVER BRONCOS 2016 record: 9-7 Notable offseason addition: Ron Leary, OG. Denver’s fall from grace last season had a whole lot to do with a leaky offensive line. Leary can’t turn that around on his own, but as a competent interior lineman, his addition will definitely help a struggling offense.

The notion, though long on good intentions, always has sounded short on common sense. Sure, games can distract, offer snippets of relief from a real world that can be unforgiving, brutal and catastrophic.

Brock Osweiler is Denver’s backup. Again. The 6-foot-7 quarterback walked into the Broncos’ practice facility this week, bringing some amount of closure to one of the most bizarre career arcs in recent NFL history.

COSTA MESA >> You can count them all on one hand. There is John Lee, an All-America kicker at UCLA whose NFL career lasted 11 games. There is Hines Ward, the five-time Pro Bowl receiver who spent the first months of his life in Seoul.

The Chargers claimed Hayes Pullard off waivers on Monday, supplementing their linebacker depth chart and adding a second USC product to their locker room. A former seventh-round pick, Pullard appeared in 24 games over the past two seasons for the Jaguars, who cut him on Sunday.

The Rams reported to work on Monday to officially begin preparations for their season opener against the Indianapolis Colts. Their best player was nowhere to be found. The contract holdout of Aaron Donald just moved to DEFCON 1, folks.

Mike Williams won’t play a full rookie season, but the Chargers are hoping that their first-round pick will be healthy enough to return in the next few weeks. Out since May with a herniated disk in his lower back, Williams has only been healthy enough to sprint on his own during practices.

Let’s start with the bad news. The Patriots are going to win the Super Bowl, and there’s nothing you can do about it. This a foregone conclusion, like Friday afternoon traffic on the 405 or Jon Snow finishing “Game of Thrones” as the hero.

Kyle Coleman never started that run. Less than three weeks ago, the linebacker was at home in Dallas, getting ready to jog around the block. Days earlier, the Seahawks had released him for the second time in less than 12 months.

SANTA CLARA >> Austin Ekeler entered Levi’s Stadium with just seven professional carries to his name. If this was his last appearance in a Chargers uniform, he made it count. After seeing little action in his first three preseason games, the undrafted rookie made his case for a spot on the regular-season roster on Thursday.

SANTA CLARA >> The ugly started early. On the sixth play of the Chargers’ preseason finale, Cardale Jones zipped a pass to tight end Sean Culkin. It was a solid choice: The undrafted rookie out of Missouri had been reliable this month, catching six of his eight targets for 56 yards.